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Porsche 911 GT3 spotted testing before earning its wings

Now that the 991-series Porsche 911 has been unleashed on the world, it's time for the other twenty-ish variants of the company's halo car to be unveiled. We've seen the 911 Cabriolet, and our spies have caught the Turbo out testing. Now, the even hotter 911 GT3 has been caught in its early stages of development (read: before it gets it's big ol' wing out back).

Mum's the word on exactly what sort of insane power the GT3's flat-six will produce, though reports have suggested numbers as high as 450 horsepower. That said, there have been conflicting reports about just how that power will be sent to the wheels – recent news suggests that both a manual and dual-clutch setup are being tested, but that only one will make it to production. (There can only be one!) Porsche officials believe that the PDK will win, though we'll wait until we get final confirmation before cutting off our left feet. In any case, we'll wait for more details to roll out throughout the year.

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I would love it even more if they made the GT3 a manual and the GT2 a PDK. Since the GT2 is the top of the line 911, it should feature the PDK and other state of the art automotive technologies. They should keep they GT3 pure!

The fact that there will be no manual made me lose all interest in this car.
Not that I had much interest in it anyway. I haven't considered a Porsche ever since they introduced CUVs, ballooned weight, and lost the air cooling.
I will keep my 993 Turbo for as long as Porsches continues down this sad, depressing, road. It combines Porsche's Spartan driving experience with a decent dose of modern technology.

LOL! Justin again! This guy is so hilarious.
He lost interest in Porsche after they built the Cayenne? LOL Hey moron, the Cayenne SAVED Porsche. It was necessary after the market research Porsche conducted showed that the average 911 owner had an SUV next to their car. Why not give them a Porsche SUV instead? Porsche is a business. They need to produce what the market demands in order to survive. Nobody is forcing you to buy a Cayenne.
Also, you're one of the biggest Audi fanboys on this site. Guess what? Audi has the Q3, Q5 and Q7. Big fat and heavy SUVs that weren't part of the Audi lineup a decade ago. Have you lost interest in Audi? No. Anything they make you blindly worship over while criticizing anything from Mercedes. You're hilarious, man.
And since when do you have a 993? Didn't you own a GT-R last week and a Veyron 16.4 the month before? Cut the bullshit. You can't afford a Porsche 993. A buddy of mine has one and you need at least $ 10,000 on the side for maintenance costs. Oh yeah, the GT3 is a dedicated track car. TRACK CAR. Let that sink in. TRACK CAR. It's meant to be driven on the track in a competitive fashion and the PDK makes it far more capable and faster than a manual transmission. Porsche will sell each and everyone of these GT3 PDKs and you won't hear a single "This car isn't fun to drive" comment from the people who bought one. The PDK is an awesome transmission and makes the GT3 even better than one equipped with a manual.
You want a Porsche with a manual? There are tons of other options for you out there. This car has a purpose. Driving such a powerful on the track is FUN no matter what the transmission is.

@ Justin
The Cayenne saved Porsche. It also got people to buy a Porsche, get hooked on the brand and perhaps try another Porsche product. I am no friend to the Cayenne (I hate it), but the car saved Porsche. Fact. Again, nobody is forcing you to buy a Cayenne.
Wait a minute. You're basically calling the PDK an "automatic transmission". The PDK is designed to improve the performance of a Porsche on the track. Period.
If Porsche "wanted to boost sales", they could throw in a normal automatic with torque converter. The PDK is much better than an automatic transmission. I seriously doubt someone opting for it is any less of an enthusiast than someone who insists on driving a manual. I fail to see how someone who drives competitively on the track is labeled as a "poseur" just because his Porsche has a PDK. It's a lame excuse from the manual fanboys.
At the end of the day, most of us would never be able to afford a GT3, so let the people who can buy them with whatever transmission they want. Their money, their car, their idea of pleasure.

Spellchecker, is that you?
There are bits and pieces of every rude reply that you made to my comments.
1) I SERIOUSLY doubt that the Cayenne kept Porche alive. NWS FLAH: Porsche is owned by VW. Porsche is not the cash cow brand of VW AG. VW and Audi are the brands that make profits. They could have used the profits that the Golf, Jetta, and A4 made to fuel Porsche.
2) I'm not an Audi fanboy at all. I don't even like their products too much aside from the RS line.
Porsche is a maker of dedicated sports cars. It would be sacrilege to alter their brand portfolio so much to make CUVs. It would be, to a lesser point, the equivalent of Lotus making an SUV.
Audi, on the other hand, makes luxury cars with a slight sport bias. Therefore, it is acceptable for them to make SUVs.
3) I actually have a 964, not a 993. When I was typing my original comment the generations and their respective names got mxed up in my head.
4) You are forgetting that nowadays, the majority of Porsche's customers are not enthusiasts. They are making the PDK the only option to boost sales from that demographic.
5) You are forgetting Porsches overall mission. The original 911 wasn't supposed to be a car with maximum performance. It was supposed to be a car that maximized the connection between the driver, the car, and the road. A two pedal transmission takes away much of the\at connection.

i registered here just so I could reply here and help you out with some facts:
993 turbo - 3307lbs
996 gt3 - 3042lbs
997 gt3 - 3075 lbs
These numbers may not be exact as I just did a bit of googling.
But please keep enjoying your lightweight 993 turbo.

I actually own a 964, sorry about the typo.
I did a little bit of googling and I found that its weight was a tad over 3k pounds. When you consider that turbo systems add a lot of weight, it is completely acceptable. The new Turbo is over 3600 pounds.
And the 964 had a lot more connection to the road than even the lightest, most stripped down modern 911. The electronic nannies on modern 911s are to blame.

I was talking to a friend who is an executive level engineer at a world top 50 company. We started talking about the current GT3 and all the weight reduction that went into it - including replacing the enamel badge on the hood with a sticker. He immediately said "Why don't they laser etch the logo into the paint?"
How awesome would that be? Porsche should look into it.